BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A person on Tuesday used to be sentenced to life in jail with out parole within the killing of 3 folks at an Alabama church dinner in June.
Robert Findlay Smith, 71, pleaded responsible to capital homicide and waived his proper to enchantment, AL.com reported.
Smith used to be indicted within the June 16, 2022, shootings of Walter “Bart” Rainey, 84, of Irondale; Sarah Yeager, 75, of Pelham; and Jane Pounds, 84, of Hoover. They had been killed throughout a potluck dinner at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, a group simply southeast of Birmingham.
“I relive the night of June 16 over and over and over, and I probably always will,” said Linda Rainey, whose husband was killed. “My heart tells me the shooter will also relive that night over and over.”
Defense attorney Emory Anthony apologized on behalf of Smith: “We’re so thankful to the families of each one of those victims because they agreed to allow him to plead to life. He could have been facing the death penalty. So they did not just talk about being Christians, they acted as Christians. I know it’s hurtful to each one of the family members, but we say thanks to each one of them.”
Neither Anthony nor the prosecutor’s office said they knew why Smith opened fire that night.
“I believe he’s remorseful,’’ Anthony said.
Smith was sitting alone, and a longtime church member approached him and invited him to sit at a table, said the Rev. Doug Carpenter, who founded the church in 1973 and retired in 2005. He identified himself to victim Rainey only as “Mr. Smith” and refused to join them.
Smith then pulled a handgun and shot three people, according to authorities. Jim Musgrove, a church member, hit the shooter with a chair and wrestled the gun away from him.
Rainey was pronounced dead at the scene. Yeager and Pounds were taken to a hospital where they later died.
“This type of senseless murder of three innocent people is certainly a case our office would typically try in front of a jury and seek the death penalty, however, that was not the wish of the three families in this case,” District Attorney Danny Carr mentioned. “After a lot dialogue, concept and prayer, the households had been unanimous that they would like a plea of responsible to capital homicide and a life with out parole sentence.”
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